We prove the existence of solitary waves in a lattice where all particles interact with each other by pairwise repulsive forces that decay with distance. The variational existence proof is based on constrained optimization and provides a one-parameter family of unimodal solutions. We also describe the asymptotic behaviour of large, fast, high-energy waves.

Volunteering in civil society organizations (CSOs) is sometimes idealized as welcoming arena for everybody. Prior research, however, has shown that participation in volunteer work depends on gender, wealth, education, and social networks, suggesting that CSOs are not in fact open to everyone. Inequality within different fields of volunteering combined with the factors that put actors into more powerful positions has rarely been scrutinized. Besides identifying the characteristics and resources relevant for promotion, we primarily investigate how these patterns differ between four subfields: politics, social services, religion, and sports. We analyzed a large database created from the Austrian micro-census. The findings reveal significant relations between the actors’ gender, their occupational and educational status, and their hierarchical positions in CSOs within each of the subfields. Our results indicate that the extent to which social inequality spills over to volunteering depends on field characteristics: In the fields of sports and politics, occupational status plays a major role, while in the fields of religion and social services, educational status is more important. We explain these differences through organizational and individual factors that characterize these social fields.

In this article, we investigate the changes in the legitimating accounts used by Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), in the context of spreading managerialism—one of the most powerful institutional practices of our time—in the Third Sector. We first introduce the concepts of legitimacy and legitimating account, before showing how managerialism manifests itself in CSOs and presenting three managerialist accounts used to legitimate such organizations: efficiency and effectiveness (E&E), stakeholder’s needs, and innovation. We then examine empirically how the use of these accounts changed between 1995 and 2008. In order to do so, we analyze quantitatively the contents of a sample of annual reports produced by Austrian CSOs over the stated period, and apply discourse analysis to a smaller group of reports to reveal more fine-grained developments. Our results show significant changes: of our chosen accounts, the one most tightly linked with managerialism, E&E, had come to be taken-for-granted by 2008, whereas the more generic and subtle concepts of stakeholder’s needs and innovation featured more strongly than in 1995.

We investigate how nonprofit organizations (NPOs) construct imaginaries of their premises, their local environment, and beyond. Based on a qualitative analysis of the websites of 209 randomly sampled NPOs in a metropolitan region in Central Europe, we find four distinct spatial imaginaries: (1) The world polity imaginary constructs NPOs as a part of a spatial environment that is neatly divided into nation states, supranational structures, and subnational units. (2) In the world society imaginary, NPOs are active in blurred, fluid, and overlapping spaces such as networks, commercialized spaces, or natural habitats. (3) In a religious imaginary, the material world is complemented by a transcendental realm and categorized into spaces of the sacred and the evil. (4) Finally, in a lococentric imaginary, NPOs construct a dichotomy between "home" and the alien rest of the world. Each of these spatial imaginaries conveys distinctive ways of situating the organization in their spatial environment and implies specific organizational practices and emotional enchantments of space.

The capability of organizations to respond to unexpected events has been investigated from different theoretical angles: organizational learning, improvisation, ambidexterity, resilience, to name but a few. These concepts, however, hardly ever refer to structural characteristics. Against this backdrop, the aim of this paper is twofold. First, based on systems and organizational learning theory, it will theoretically link the characteristics of organizational structure with organizational responses to unexpected external jolts, thus contributing to better understand the reactions of organizations to the unexpected. Second, it will empirically illustrate the relation of organizational structure with organizational responses by investigating how Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Austria reacted to the unexpected inflow of refugees from Central Europe. In 2015, CSOs accepted a wide range of responsibilities and worked together with government entities to provide shelter, catering, and transport for almost one million refugees. Based on participant observations during operation, in-depth interviews (2015 and 2016) and focus groups with decision-makers (2017), we will sketch three longitudinal case studies of organizations with very different structures, concentrating on the processes and operations they developed during the crisis. Our findings show that their responses are closely related to their structure, specifically to the flexibility and the stability of structural elements. Remarkable changes took place in all organizations investigated. Initial responses and first structural changes occurred mainly where the structure already allowed for flexibility. Yet in the long run, the adaptations also impacted the stable structural elements.

Transparency means being honest and open about one’s practices. Transparency is considered a gold standard in the nonprofit sector and associated with a range of positive outcomes. We propose that transparency should also become a guiding principle and documented practice for nonprofit scholars. In this article, we articulate the context for discussing transparency in social science research and the potential risks of not being transparent. Acknowledging the epistemic and methodological diversity of our field—and therefore, the need for flexibility in how transparency will be practiced by different scholars—we encourage nonprofit researchers to consider how they can enhance their research transparency. To this end, we outline the benefits of transparency and offer concrete suggestions for different ways to demonstrate transparency in nonprofit research.

Different disciplinary, theoretical, and empirical lenses have contributed to a kaleidoscopic picture of the governance of civil society organizations (CSOs). Most of the time, CSO governance is contrasted with corporate governance in business organizations; only rarely is the broad variety of CSOs taken into account. To widen this perspective, we develop an empirically grounded typology of five discourses of organization in CSOs: managerialist, domestic, professionalist, grassroots, and civic discourse. We argue that each of these discourses gives specific answers to the three core questions of governance: To whom is the CSO accountable, i.e., who are the key actors who need to be protected by governance mechanisms? For what kind of performance is the CSO accountable? And which structures and processes are appropriate to ensure accountability? The way in which different discourses answer these questions provides us with a deeper understanding of the reasons behind the manifold notions of governance in CSOs.

Although civil societies in Central and Eastern Europe are often portrayed as similar, united by a shared communist past, they have developed along increasingly divergent trajectories over the past three decades. This article investigates the current state of civil society in the region and the role the institutional context plays in it. Drawing on historical institutionalism and the process of European integration, we classify the 14 countries under investigation into three distinct groups and analyze data from a survey of more than 350 local civil society experts. We find that, together with domestic governments, international donors and the EU are perceived as the most influential institutional actors for civil society organizations. Their respective influences, however, depend largely on a country’s stage in the EU accession process. Overall, the study provides a differentiated mapping of civil society in this region and a better understanding of how the institutional context relates to a country’s civil society.

Why did some individuals react to the Covid-19 crisis in a prosocial manner, whereas others withdrew from society? To shed light onto this question, we investigate changing patterns of charitable giving during the pandemic. The study analyzes survey data of 2000 individuals, representative of the populations of Germany and Austria. Logistic regressions reveal that personal affectedness by Covid-19 seems to play a crucial role: those who were personally affected either mentally, financially, or health-wise during the first 12 months of Covid-19 were most likely to have changed their giving behavior. The observed patterns fit psychological explanations of how human beings process existential threats. Our findings indicate that a profound societal crisis in itself mainly leads to changes in charitable giving if individuals are severely affected on a personal level. Thereby, we contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying individuals’ charitable giving behavior in times of crisis.

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) contribute to vital neighborhoods by building communities of citizens and acting as intermediaries between citizens and organizations. We investigate how NPOs’ engagement in social and systemic integration is shaped by neighborhood characteristics, and how it relates to the organizational practices of managerialism and organizational democracy. We combine survey data with administrative data from a representative sample of NPOs in a major European city. To measure the effect of neighborhood on organizational integration, we separated the city into 7,840 grid cells characterized by population, per capita income, share of immigrant population, and density of organizations. Findings indicate that managerialism positively relates with systemic integration, as organizational democracy relates with social integration. Neighborhood characteristics, however, are not related with NPOs’ engagement in integration. Our findings contribute to research on urban social cohesion by illuminating the interplay between NPOs’ organizing practices, local neighborhoods, and contributions to both forms of integration.

There is growing evidence that optimising dietary quality and engaging in physical activity (PA) can reduce dementia and cognitive decline risk and improve psychosocial health and quality of life (QoL). Multimodal interventions focusing on diet and PA are recognised as significant strategies to tackle these behavioural risk factors; however, the cost-effectiveness of such interventions is seldom reported. A limited cost consequence based on a 12-month cluster-randomised Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) and walking controlled trial (MedWalk) was undertaken. In addition, QoL data were analysed. Programme costs ($AUD2024) covered staff to deliver the MedWalk programme and foods to support dietary behaviour change. The primary outcome measure of this study was change in QoL utility score, measured using the Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL-8D). Change scores were compared for the groups using general linear models while controlling for demographic factors associated with baseline group differences and attrition. Change in QoL (decreased, maintained or improved) was determined using a cross-tabulation test. MedWalk programme costs were estimated at $2695 AUD per participant and control group cost at $165 per person – a differential cost of $2530. Mean change in utility scores from baseline to 12 months was not statistically significant between groups. Nevertheless, the MedWalk group was significantly less likely to experience a reduction in their QoL (20·3 % MedWalk v. 42·6 % control group) (P = 0·020). A MedDiet and walking intervention may have a role in preventing decline in QoL of older Australians; however, longer-term follow-up would be beneficial to see if this is maintained.

The authors offer reflections and lessons learned in a single pediatric tertiary center’s experience during a pediatric mass casualty incident (MCI). The MCI occurred at a holiday parade and the patients were brought to multiple community emergency departments for initial resuscitation prior to transfer to the Pediatric level 1 trauma center. In total, 18 children presented with severe blunt force trauma after a motor vehicle entered the parade route. Following initial triage in emergency departments, 10 of 18 children injured during the incident were admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, collectively representing a system-wide stressor of emergency medicine, critical care, and surgical services. Institutional characteristics, activation of personnel and supplies, and psychosocial support for families during an MCI are important to consider in children’s hospitals’ disaster preparedness planning.

We study the Cauchy problem on the real line for the nonlocal Fisher-KPP equation in one spatial dimension,

\begin{equation*} u_t = D u_{xx} + u(1-\phi *u), \end{equation*}

$\phi *u$

$\phi (y) \equiv H\left (\frac{1}{4}-y^2\right )$

$u=1$

$D$

$\Delta _1 \approx 0.00297$

$D \ll 1$

$O(1)$

$u=O(1)$

$u$

$D \to 0^+$

$D \geq \Delta _1$

$2 \sqrt{D}$

$0 \lt D \lt \Delta _1$

$u=0$

$D$

Background: Presenteeism when ill in healthcare personnel (HCP) can contribute to the spread of respiratory illness among HCP and patients. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic and now, there are substantial challenges preventing HCP from staying home when ill. We examined these challenges using the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) framework. Method: As part of a larger anonymous electronic survey between 3/11/2022 and 4/12/2022 at an academic tertiary referral center, in inpatient and ambulatory settings where respondents were asked to describe factors impacting presenteeism when ill, we analyzed free-text responses using the SEIPS categories of tasks, tools/technology, person, organization, and physical environment. Result: 522 comments were received in response to the open-ended survey question asking individuals to describe any factors that would assist them in remaining home and/or help them get tested for COVID-19 when they have symptoms of a respiratory illness; 21 were excluded due to absent or incomplete response. Of the remaining responses (N = 501, Figure 1), 82% were associated with a single SEIPS component such as organization (N = 409), while other responses discussed factors that involved two SEIPS components, in no particular order (N = 92). A majority of the responses (N = 324, 55%) reported organizational barriers, frequently citing a strict sick call-in policy as well as a lack of protected time-off for COVID-19 testing or related absences. The next two most commonly identified components were physical environment (N= 88, 15%) and tasks (N = 72, 12%), mentioning barriers such as far distances to testing centers and prolonged waiting periods for testing Results: The person and tools/technology components were less commonly identified, with a frequency of 9% each. Conclusion: A number of systems level factors were identified that may impact the ability of HCP to stay home when ill. Interventions to help overcome HCP perceived barriers to staying home when experiencing respiratory symptoms should focus on the policies and practices within an organization. Communication from leadership should support staying home with respiratory symptoms by creating plans for coverage and back up consistently across all employee types in direct care.